Early that Monday morning, Jimmy caught a flight to the US for four days of business meetings followed by a weekend with his dad and sister in Florida. Veronica and Brett set off for a bit more sightseeing...
...and photography before heading their separate ways as Veronica had a train to catch back to Exeter while Brett was continuing his holiday by heading to Bordeaux.
So I was alone when I headed to the Hangover Hash which started along the canal at 46bis Quai de la Loire. It was a much smaller group and luckily I managed to keep up with them and never got lost. Unfortunately, however, I did lose all of my photos since my phone died and wasn’t backed up. However, I managed to borrow some photos from Wiki Commons of the incredible park that we ran through: Parc des Buttes Chaumont. A former quarry and dump, it was turned into a park in 1867 by Napoleon III (nephew of Napoleon Bonaparte and first president of France). Apparently the original hills were dynamited to leave behind these jagged peaks.
Although we didn’t go up the Eiffel Tower, we crossed the 205-foot (63-meter) long suspension bridge designed by Gustave Eiffel.
Of course, we had to head up to the top of the hill to visit the park’s most famous feature: Temple de la Sibylle, a miniature version of the famous Roman Temple of Vesta in Tivoli, Italy.
Most surprising was to see a waterfall in Paris. Even though it was artificial, it was still pretty. We stopped for a beer break just outside the park and then had a second stop at a bakery for fresh croissants and coffee (or hot chocolate, in my case). Eventually we made it back to the start where we had a circle and a nice lunch with the leftovers from the day before. Afterwards a bunch of us went to a local microbrewery for a beer and then it was time for me to round up my luggage (which I had already moved close to Gare du Nord) and catch my train home. What a fantastic weekend!
Considering we had briefly debated about not going because of COVID-19, we were all happy to have had a great time while staying safe from the virus. When we said goodbye that Monday morning, we had no idea who quickly we’d all be together again.
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